August 16, 2011

Mister Seahorse Craft with Lacing Practice

We read Eric Carle's Mister Seahorse this week and decided we wanted to couple the book with a seahorse craft. Since I want my preschooler to be able to tie his shoes before Kindergarten I loved this fabulous idea I saw for tying practice found at Making Learning Fun.

The marbled paint effect on the seahorse turned out stunning! This very well may be something everyone knew about, but not me, so when I saw this painting technique at Little Wonders Day, I fell in love and knew we HAD to try it.

1. Start by printing off the free seahorse pattern on card stock paper and have your child cut it out.

2. Squirt some shaving cream into your container, enough to fill the bottom of your container. I used a spoon to flatten it down. Then simply add some lines of acrylic paint on top of the shaving cream and then use a toothpick or end of spoon to swirl the colors around. This is what mine looked like after swirling. I didn't take tons of pictures of the process so you can also read the tutorial on Little Wonders Day if you are confused.

3. Press your seahorse down into the paint, making sure every part is touching. After leaving it there for a several seconds, lift it out carefully. This is what my son's seahorse looked like after taking it out of the paint.

4. Let it dry for a couple minutes and then squeegee
the excess shaving cream and paint off of the seahorse. When you are done, it amazingly looks like this:

5. Let it dry completely. I used a black marker to draw the fin back on it. I couldn't see the lines anymore through the paint, so I just had to wing it.

6. Use your hole punch to punch holes around the seahorse's head to add his hair. The pattern has pre-made places to punch the holes but you might not be able to see them after painting, so I just put the holes wherever I wanted. Cut some pieces of yarn for your child to pull through the holes and tie a knot. If the yarn pieces are uneven you can trim them to make them even after your child is finished tying the knots.

7. After his hair is attached glue on a wiggly eye to complete your seahorse.

When you are finished you have a beautiful creation to be proud of! We will definitely be using this painting technique more often.

I remember my then 5yo son would sob when we read 'Puff the Magic Dragon' and the boy goes away. It was hard to watch him sobbing and he couldn't really explain why he was so upset, but he loved to read it ?!Beautiful knot exercise, we'll definitley give it a go :-) Thanks.

Ooooh....ahhhh.... literally. This is amazing! What a great idea. Shaving foam is my latest obsession with all the great crafts, especially the marbled projects. I love it - especially the sea horse mane! Thanks for sharing :-)

Thanks for sharing the paint tutorials as well as the crafty suggestion for tying practice - we have the same goal here! We had an unexpected reaction to Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. My son's response at the end was, that's not real, right? Never one to be confused by real and imaginary, I think he just had to reassure himself that he could never accidently turn himself into a rock like sylvester.

Because this is SOOOOO amazing, I'm featuring you and this post at this week's For the Kids Link Party at Sun Scholars! Thanks for sharing!!! Stop by and grab your A++ button and share with us again this week!

Your sons response is so cute. I have to admit I don't like reading that bit because it feel a bit mean. My son loves this book so much he asks for it every night. My hubby and I are rapidly falling out of love with Eric Carle and Mr Seahorse. I love the marbling paint effect, I'll have to try that. Thanks for the instructions.

Sorry, me again being a bit thick - ok I tried the paint and shaving foam and it worked really well up to the point where i had to take the excess paint and foam off - then it all went a bit wrong! Can I just do a word check. In the UK a squeegee is the rubber bladed device you use to take ice or water off the car windows. It that really what you use to take the excess foam off the paper?

This is amazing!! and what a great way to teach how to tie. I have a 5 year old and needed something to help her...I will be using this, you can count on it! I am following you from the blog hop today....I am Queenoftheblingandotheramazingthings.blogspot.com

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Feel free to use these ideas at your home, school or anywhere else you teach and play. After all, that's what my whole website is about, to inspire you to get crafty with your kids!

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